When you use Windows Server Backup, the first backup of a server is always a full backup. This is because the full backup process clears the archive bits on files so that Windows Server Backup can track which files are updated subsequently. Whether Windows Server Backup performs full or incremental backups subsequently depends on the default performance settings you configure. You can configure the default performance settings by following these steps:
1. Start Windows Server Backup. In the Actions pane or on the Action menu, tap or click Configure Performance Settings. This displays the Optimize Backup Performance dialog box, shown in Figure 11-2.
2. Do one of the following, and then tap or click OK:
■ Choose Normal Backup Performance to perform full backups of all attached drives.
■ Choose Faster Backup Performance to perform incremental backups of all attached drives.
■ Choose Custom. In the option lists provided, specify whether to perform full or incremental backups for individual attached drives.
FIGURE 11-2 Configure the default backup settings.
3. After you configure the default performance settings, you can start a full or copy backup by tapping or clicking Backup Once on the Action menu or in the Actions pane. You can configure a backup schedule by tapping or clicking Backup Schedule on the Action menu or in the Actions pane.
Getting started with the Backup Command-Line utility
Wbadmin is the command-line counterpart to Windows Server Backup. You use Wbadmin to manage all aspects of backup configuration that you would otherwise manage in Windows Server Backup. This means you can typically use either tool to manage backup and recovery.
After you install the Backup Command-Line Tools feature as discussed earlier in the chapter, you can use Wbadmin to manage backup and recovery. Wbadmin is located in the %SystemRoot%\System32\ directory. This directory is in your command path by default, so you do not need to add it. You can run Wbadmin by following these steps:
1. Open an elevated, administrator command prompt. One way to do this is to enter cmd in the Everywhere Search box, press and hold or right-click Command Prompt in the Apps list, and then tap or click Run As Administrator.
2. In the Command Prompt window, enter the necessary command text or run a script that invokes Wbadmin.
REAL WORLD By default with Windows Server 2012 R2, the command prompt and the administrator command prompt are options on the shortcut menu that is displayed when you right-click in the lower left corner or press Windows key + X. The alternative is for the Windows PowerShell prompt and the administrator Windows PowerShell prompt to be displayed on this menu. To configure which options are available, on the desktop, press and hold or right-click the taskbar, and then select Properties. In the Taskbar And Navigation Properties dialog box, on the Navigation tab, select or clear the Replace Command Prompt With Windows PowerShell check box as appropriate.
Wbadmin has a number of associated commands, which are summarized in Table 11-2.
TABLE 11-2 Wbadmin management commands
| COMMAND | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| DELETE SYSTEMSTATEBACKUP | Deletes the system state backup or backups from a specified location. |
| DISABLE BACKUP | Disables scheduled daily backups so that they no longer run. |
| DELETE BACKUP | Deletes one or more backups. |
| ENABLE BACKUP | Enables or modifies a scheduled daily backup. |
| GET DISKS | Lists the disks that are currently online for the local computer. Disks are listed by manufacturer name, type, disk number, GUID, total space, used space, and associated volumes. |
| GET ITEMS | Lists items contained in a specified backup. |
| GET STATUS | Reports the status of the currently running backup or recovery job. |
| GET VIRTUAL MACHINES | Lists the currently configured virtual machines. |
| GET VERSIONS | Lists details about the available backups stored in a specific location, including the backup time and backup destination. |
| START BACKUP | Starts a one-time backup by using the specified parameters. If no parameters are passed and scheduled backups are enabled, the backup uses the settings for scheduled backups. |
| START RECOVERY | Initiates a recovery of volumes, applications, or files by using the specified parameters. |
| START SYSTEMSTATEBACKUP | Starts a system state backup by using the options specified. |
| START SYSTEMSTATERECOVERY | Starts a system state recovery by using the specified parameters. |
| STOP JOB | Stops the currently running backup or recovery job. Stopped jobs cannot be restarted from where they were stopped. |
When you are working with Wbadmin, you can get help on available commands:
■ To view a list of management commands, enter wbadmin /? at the command prompt.
■ To view the syntax for a specific management command, enter wbadmin Command /?, where Command is the name of the management command you want to examine, such as wbadmin stop job /?.
When you work with Wbadmin, you’ll find that just about every command accepts parameters and specific parameter values that qualify what you want to work with. To understand more clearly how this works, consider the following syntax example:
wbadmin get versions [-backupTarget:{VolumeName | NetworkSharePath}] [-machine: BackupMachineName]
The brackets tell you that -backupTarget and -machine are optional. Thus, you could enter the following to get information on recoverable backups on the local computer: